


Orpheus

by onlyganymede



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Maribat - Fandom, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, First Meetings, Meet-Cute, Pets, Pre-Relationship, Walking the dog, meet awkward
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 06:33:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30135435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlyganymede/pseuds/onlyganymede
Summary: Jason walks his dog, Orpheus, on Sunday mornings. There was no reason for that walk to be eventful, but this weekend, that changed.
Relationships: Dog | Jason Todd's Dog & Jason Todd, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Jason Todd
Comments: 2
Kudos: 80





	Orpheus

Sunday mornings were for walking the dog. The Red Hood tried to refrain from assisting Batman and his collective group of vigilantes during the Saturday night graveyard patrol as much as he possibly could. Last night Jason hadn’t gone out, and now his energetic dog was reaping the rewards.

Despite the early morning chill, there were few clouds in the sky and things felt relatively peaceful. Jason was modestly bundled in a scarf and button-front coat, but Orpheus, his dog, seemed not to feel the cold at all. Part of that might have been the little dog sweater Jason had managed to wrangle onto his body, but Orpheus did seem too energetic for the chill of the day.

Jason’s breath fogged out in front of him in great curls as he roamed the looming network of high rises, apartment complexes, and the occasional diner.

Orpheus paused to sniff out something interesting near the base of a trash can, and Jason gave the leash a little tug. The walk might’ve been for Orpheus, but he did not want to waste it stopping by trash.

The dog reluctantly pulled away, and then returned to his happy jaunt.

Smells from coffee shops and diners had turned Jason’s stomach when they first went out, but he could feel their magic working as he slowly became aware of a faint hunger, growing stronger by the minute. The sooner he finished this circuit with Orpheus, the sooner he could eat.

Obviously, he didn’t want to rush Orpheus through his fresh air and good exercise, but today for whatever reason Jason was just aching for something to eat.

He readjusted his scarf around his neck so it sat more comfortably, and waited patiently with Orpheus to cross the street. Gotham traffic was brutal. It was a merciless machine that could kill even the most cautious of jaywalkers. Newcomers to the city who were used to crossing their own streets at the first convenience would surely be shocked.

The countdown until it was safe to cross began. Jason reached down and stroked Orpheus behind his ears.

The countdown was nearly finished, ten seconds to go, when a woman brushed past him, quickly glancing both ways and proceeding to step out into the crosswalk.

Jason’s blood froze as he saw in his periphery a speeding taxi coming full force around the bend up the street—heading directly for this oblivious woman.

In a split second, he lunged forward and pulled her out of the street and into safety by the back of her long, pink raincoat. The taxi raced in front of them, barely making it through the intersection before its yellow light turned red.

“Hey, are you okay?” He asked her, taking her by the arm and gently guiding her across the now safe-to-enter crosswalk.

She was breathing heavily, and looked thoroughly shaken and chagrined. When they reached the opposite side, he reined in Orpheus’s leash some, and was too distracted by the near-fatal tragedy that he had just spared himself from seeing, and that he had spared the woman from experiencing, to notice that Orpheus was nosing around in some garbage he had found on the sidewalk.

“I—I’m fine,” she said shakily. “Just kind of nerve-wracking! I’m so embarrassed.” Her blushing cheeks weren’t just from the morning weather, then.

Jason’s hand slowly dropped from where he had laid it to guide her. “It’s all right. Not from here, are you?”

“No, I’m not. What gave it away? Accent?” She asked curiously with a little laugh, her breathing more stable now.

“Ah, more so the premature crossing of the street.”

“Oh!” The woman said. A gust of wind ruffled through her long dark hair. “Well, thank you for helping me.” Her blush was not going away anytime soon.

Jason Todd could admit to himself that he rather liked that he had saved her from certain doom. She was very pretty, and her accent was cute. “No problem. I just saw the taxi coming, and knew you were toast otherwise.”

She nodded, still trying to regain some composure. Orpheus caught her eye. “Is this your dog? Can I pet him? Or is he a service dog?”

Jason shook his head. “No, you can pet him. That’s just his cold-weather outfit. Nothing fancy,” it was actually pretty fancy for dog fashion, “and his name’s Orpheus.”

The dark-haired woman crouched down by the dog, and began to give him attention. “Aw, Orpheus! What a good boy!”

Jason just laughed as he watched the two interact.

The woman was still cooing over his dog, her embarrassment forgotten, when a couple walked by with to-go coffee cups. Jason’s mouth watered. He didn’t think he could wait until after the walk to eat after all. Orpheus would have to be okay with his exercise broken up into two parts.

“Say,” Jason began to say as the woman stood up, “I haven’t had a bite to eat all morning. How about you join me for some food? You can tell me all about wherever it is you come from that lets you roam the streets in safety from busy traffic, and I can tell you more about how I came around to getting Orpheus?”

The woman smiled. “That would be nice. I just have to post this,” she dug out a letter from her deep raincoat pocket, pulling it just far out enough that Jason could see what it was, “and then I can join you and Orpheus for something?”

Jason smiled. “Sounds good to me.” He gave Orpheus’s leash some more slack, urging him onwards so that they could walk with the woman to the post office. “I’m Jason, by the way. Jason Todd.”

“Marinette,” she responded, cheeks dimpled from her own smile. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”


End file.
